Although, they are some other Nigerian movies recently released to the Cinemas, but we decided to see Elina because of the trailer we saw which also revealed that it is a movie about children. Tallying with Children’s Day week, we decided to give it a shot.
Elina is a film spotlighting real-life accounts of parental neglect, child molestation, sexual abuse and afterwards trauma.
Produced by Editha Chiewuzie, the movie features veteran Nollywood actor Eucharia Anunobi alongside Kalu Ikeagwu, Felix Ugo, Jessica Fabulous, Jibola Dabo, and Winner Edward, among others.
The over one-hour film tells the story of the eponymous character Elina, an 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped after her mother carelessly left the car keys in the ignition with her in the car during an outing.
After the kidnap, for several years, all efforts to find Elina proved abortive and her parents accepted that she must already be dead.
However, Elina returned to their lives 15 years later, bruised, traumatized with a lot going on.
The film highlights the traumatic experiences victims go through at the hands of their abductors such as sexual abuse and the attendant results.
Although a powerful message centered movie, the producer had also confided in Kemi Filani News that she spent whopping N50m for its production, but is it really worth it?
We could tell that Elina was shot within 3 or 4 days max. In as much as we love the plot of the movie, from the beginning to its very end, Elina was rushed like a skit.
The acting of even the veterans were so poor. Elina, the lead character was played by the movie producer, Editha Chiewuzie yet she interpreted her role like an amateur.
Elina was kidnapped and confined in one room for 15 years, subjected to sexual harassment on daily basis. Yet after her escape, she suddenly has a bag of cloth, in fact ‘slay mama’ kind of outfits. From the moon?
Then proceeded to so many annoyingly boring scenes and unrealistic situations.
Nigerian movie producers and directors can do better. We the Nigerian movie lovers are not asking for to much, just quality movies worth the money we part with at the Cinema.
